Folklife Today

Hidden Folklorists


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Hosts John Fenn and Stephen Winick, along with Library of Congress staff members Stephanie Hall, Michelle Stefano, and Muhannad Salhi, explore the work of "hidden folklorists," that is, people whose folklore work is sometimes overlooked because they came from marginalized communities and/or were more famous for other activities. This episode looks at four folklorists or folklore families. The famous 19th century detective Allan Pinkerton and his wife Joan compiled an early book of Scottish ballads, and were featured in a blog post by Stephen Winick. King David Kalakaua and his sister Queen Liliuokalani, last monarchs of Hawai'i, published and translated the sacred chants of their people, and were featured in blogs by Stephanie Hall. Sarah P. Jamali, an English professor and wife of an Iraqi prime minister, collected audio recordings of Iraqi folktales and published them in English translation, and was written about by Michelle Stefano; and Ralph Ellison, prominent novelist, whose Invisible Man was partly inspired by a story he collected in New York, as revealed by Stephen Winick.
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Folklife TodayBy Library of Congress

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